Sventurato
by June Dune
Summary: Optimism eventually fades, even for the most fervent. Such is the case for Silver the Hedgehog as he contemplates just how unlucky he is on your typical Valentine's Day at the 2014 Winter Olympics.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Silver, Blaze, Luigi or the Sochi Winter Olympics (though I wish to...) from SEGA, Nintendo, or real life.**

Scenery flashed by Silver as he watched it idly from the speeding train. His finger curled around the white cords blending in with his fur and created little knots in them. Soon enough, the earphones fell out of his triangular ears, and he groaned, letting the music play out of the speakers. These so-called 'iPods' were really not working for him.

His eyes shifted to the inside of the bullet train. No one but him and the tacky 'Be my Valentine' hearts displayed across the walls. He eventually eased his gaze back to the flickering images of the outside. _Get pumped, Silver_, he told himself dully in his thoughts,_ The whole team is counting on you_. This was partly true, considering that the Sonic team was down by two medals and the events that they excelled at had already passed. Yet, he couldn't really bring himself to care.

The poles that were propped up against the shaky train fell into Silver's lap, and its points pricked his legs. The ivory hedgehog yelped instantly and stood up, allowing the poles to clatter to the floor. Silver stumbled back clumsily as the skis attached to his feet were giving him much trouble, and he had to cling onto another row of seats to prevent himself from falling.

He sent a heated glare at the now stationary poles. Silver could've done anything else. Figure skating, bobsledding, even ski jumping. But no, he had to be given the men's super combined, which consisted of a meticulous slalom and a rapid-paced downhill that would surely break his neck if he crashed.

The white hedgehog dismally raised his foot to stare at the hi-tech anklet latched on to him like a leech. If the Sonic team didn't have to wear these bands, they would've won every possible Olympics against the Mario team. Silver didn't really grasp why they had to withhold their natural powers to compete in the events. In fact, he believed it was the only outstanding thing about him with the exception of nearly ruining everything he touched.

Silver turned his gaze to view yet again no one beside him, not a single soul to support him. Not even Blaze. She had opted out of every skiing/snowing event imaginable and chose to compete in figure skating events instead. Silver drummed his fingers sulkily against the train as he thought about his efforts of trying to be friends with her. It was as if she was avoiding him at every twist and turn. She never did this when they were fighting Iblis together.

The memories of Iblis and fighting side by side with Blaze were vague to him, but Silver walked a fragile line called 'time'; it was bound to break and let memories of existing alternate timelines flow back into the time-traveler's mind. And though it hurt his head miserably, these memories gave him relief especially since Blaze had recalled some of them as well. Silver felt a grin tug at his lips. In that time, they were best friends who fought by each other's side, and they never could be separated. Those times were good.

Blaze and him weren't nearly as close compared to what he remembered, and since he wanted to renew the friendship, Sochi would be a great opportunity to spend time with her. Unfortunately, things hadn't worked out in Silver's favor as he didn't have a single event with her, and his dreams of figure skating with her were dashed since that blue hedgehog had offered to be her partner.

Silver puffed out his cheeks childishly at the thought of Blaze and Sonic figure skating together. Quick feet always got on the arena. It was another reason why he wasn't allowed to be Blaze's partner. That, and he was kind of too shy to ask if he could pair up with her. He guessed he was forever alone on the Forever Alone Awareness Day, which meant that his unluckiness was at its prime.

The bullet train finally pulled to a stop, much to the white hedgehog's surprise since this wasn't his stop yet. He merely sighed in irritation and rested back into his seat, tapping his finger against his muzzle. Earsplitting cheers from outside caused Silver to deviate his gaze to the finale of another event.

Knuckles had just crossed the finish line with a concluding tug of his poles and then collapsed into the pure white snow, his skis flying up in the air. Sonic's friends Amy and Tails stood by the red echidna, patting his back excitedly and congratulating him on the win. Silver blew out a strand of loose fur from his eyes and sank lower into his chair. _Yay, another medal._

The train speedily chugged away, leaving the happy scene where it was. Did he really belong here? _No, of course I don't_, Silver answered in his head. He was in a world that was 200 years ago from his time; it was only because of being part of a franchise with Sonic and his friends that he was invited to compete here.

_Yeah, the only thing that I contributed to the 'franchise' is nearly killing off one of the most prominent, heroic figures in history_, Silver thought sulkily. He was absolutely unlucky; he was sure of it. He considered that being arranged out of every event with the lavender cat came with the territory of misfortune. Being born into a post-apocalyptic world was practically an omen to show how disastrous his life was going to be. Here he was at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi on what was supposed to be an exciting, fun-filled day, and he was utterly wretched.

A beep sounded in the forlorn tram, interrupting Silver's thoughts. It took a lot of head-swinging, but he finally found the source of the beep, his iPod. "Does it beep when the battery's low...?" he asked himself as he fumbled to unlock his device. It clicked open and revealed that he got a message.

It said: Coming to see you at your event. -Blaze

Silver's eyes widened. Blaze coming to see him at _his_ event? Was this actually her? Or did the cat accidentally send it to him when she meant to send it to someone else? Most importantly, was he dreaming?

One quick pinch told Silver that this was most definitely not a reverie. He looked in awe at the Valentine decor plastered on the walls. Perhaps Valentine's Day inverted his unluckiness to...luckiness? Whatever the cause for this sudden burst of good fortune, he had to take advantage of this moment. He was always standing around, waiting for everything to happen to him. Instead, he was going to be the one taking action now that he had the opportunity in his hands.

When he finally arrived at his destination, he eagerly leaped out of the transport with his skiing gear and iPod. Technically, he was supposed to be practicing on the course, but he believed the plan was far more important than this responsibility.

Silver trotted straight towards the evergreen forest, trying not to slide on the glossy snow. With the sun bearing down on him and breathing fair temperatures, it was not long before he discovered some uncovered rocky ground in the forest.

Though Sochi, Russia, was supposed to be a winter wonderland around February, the snow unexpectedly hadn't come their way so they were compelled to produce fake snow for the alpine skiing courses and snowboarding events. Honestly, Silver preferred the authentic since it wasn't as hard to control his skis, which would be essential since he now promised to win the event for Blaze.

It was simple; all he had to do was fly down the downhill, weave through the slalom, and then present himself as a wonderful, accomplished hedgehog hero with a shiny gold medal. Something was missing though, and it took one look at a patch of uncovered ground to get Silver to piece the whole plan together.

"A flower!" he squealed, gliding over the snow to the plant in haste. Perfect. Reveal the Sochi Tea Plant to her and ask her to be his Valentine. With him obtaining a gold medal from the event, how could she say no to that?

Lost in his thoughts once again, Silver failed to notice the bulky, impending rock settled on the ground. "Aaggh-!" His ski plowed under it, and the trip sprang him forward, twisted his body in an excruciating angle, and smacked him into the rocky terrain.

Pain seared through Silver's lower half and penetrated his mind as he attempted to get up. He soon deemed the effort useless and plopped back onto the ground to find the flower directly in front of him.

"Well, that was easy enough," the white hedgehog proclaimed, plucking the Sochi Tea Plant from Mother Nature. He remained on the ground, gazing at his prize as an unintentional smile grew upon his muzzle. "And I thought that something bad was gonna-"

"Help!" someone called, interrupting the blissful note. Silver rotated his head while simultaneously keeping his body still to avoid pain; the voice seemed not far off from him. A sound like crumbling rocks came to his ears, and he turned to view what looked like a green blob with bright blue eyes in the distance.

Silver opened his mouth in shock. "Luigi?!" he sputtered incredulously as the tall green plumber clung onto the edge of the cliff for dear life.

"Yes, yes, it is Luigi," the brother of Mario said, speaking rapidly in his Italian accent, "I am on a slick-a cliff, and I'm going to fall-a. Please, oh please, save me! The ground is so far down, probably miles down! _Mamma mia_, I don't want to die!"

"Don't worry! I'm coming!" Silver announced, hurriedly tucking the flower inside his quills and staggering to his feet. That was a faulty move; pain immediately fired through his veins, and he unceremoniously collapsed onto the ruthless land belly first. He stole a quick glance at the source of irritation, his ankle, and saw that it was swelling massively.

"Help me, help me, help me! I'm-a falling! I'm-a falling!" Luigi cried, nearly in hysterics as Silver watched him sink lower down the cliff until the white hedgehog could only see the plumber's signature green cap.

Silver flopped on his back and struggled to sit up but failed to do so because of his throbbing ankle. He had to _do _something. There was no way he could get all the way over there by walking or crawling and get there in time. But still, there must be _some_ way... His gaze instantly flitted to the inhibitor on his agitated ankle.

_My psychokinesis_.

Urgently, his hands dove to the restraining anklet, scuffing it slightly as he could barely reach it in a lying down position. At last, the tips of his fingers lodged themselves between the injury and the hi-tech device. Silver bit his lip at the scorching heat of just touching the wound, and he almost withdrew his hands. However, the cries of help were becoming more distant, and the time to act was now.

Tears streamed down his muzzle as he desperately dug his fingers into his leg and forced them to push up against the inhibitor with all his might.

_Snap!_

The imaginary weight bearing down on him was immediately lifted, and the fog surrounding his mind had cleared. Without another thought, he shot a gloved hand in the direction of his endangered competitor, intensely concentrating on the sole tips of the plumber's fingers grasping onto the cliff's edge. His hand radiated with energy and caught the objects of focus in their animation just as they were about to disappear over the edge. Silver felt a small smile of triumph work into his lips. Just in time.

In a bubbly teal glow, Luigi was lifted from his moment of danger and set satisfactorily on the sleek white snow. The green plumber stood in mere astonishment for a second, his coffee brown moustache dropping with his mouth. Then he cheered, leaping in the air with his trademark pose.

"Yahoo!" Luigi exclaimed jovially, "I'm-a free! I'm-a free! _Mamma mia_, I thought I was going to die from falling off the cliff!" The white hedgehog watching the cheerful ordeal couldn't help but grin. Who knew these Mario characters were so...happy?

After a couple of seconds of whooping and hollering, Luigi spun to Silver and yanked him up with both hands, shaking them as well. "Thank you, I thank you!" he cried, "I would never have been saved if you hadn't been here! _Molte grazie_!"

"Heh, heh...no problem," the time-traveler said with a sheepish grin. A thought suddenly hit Silver, making him frown in deliberation. "Wait a second then...what are you doing out here?"

It was time for Luigi to become embarrassed as he bashfully scratched his brown shoe against the ground and muttered, "Well-a, I came out here to practice for my event today, the super combined that is. I thought-a...if I trained hard out here, then I could-a win the gold medal...and Daisy as my Valentine. But I almost died out here, ya know, so thank you again!"

Feeling compelled to utter something, Silver was about to comment until the green plumber's glittering blue eyes widened.

"_Mamma mia_, the event!" Luigi shouted, heading towards the exit of the forest, "_Andiamo_! We need to get-a there; it might-a start without us!"

The white hedgehog was going to pursue but instead tested his injured foot. The swelling had gone down a lot, and he could stand on his own two feet without it causing much pain... "I'm coming!" Silver yelled, sliding his skis on the jarring landscape after his competitor.

Silver leaned across the wall nervously while watching Luigi ski in the downhill portion of the event. The Nintendo competitor was actually performing outstandingly, and the fake snow wasn't proving much of a hindrance to him. He then finished with a brilliant time of a minute and fifty-four seconds.

"You're up," the event crew told him. Silver touched his ankle once again in a last-minute checkup. He hadn't put any weight on it since he got out of the forest, so dropping his injured leg on the same ground as the other was on didn't seem like a good idea... "You're up. _Go_."

Heftily, he was shoved to the starting line, and he only had a little time to scan the steep downhill that would curse his knees before the shot rang out. Silver at once dug his skis into the snow, and he was off, quickly gaining speed.

The curves came at him like darts; he shifted his weight to the inside ski, knocked away the side of the flag, and prepared himself for the next large turn while maintaining a swift pace. Silver let his breathing come in intervals as he cut through the turns expertly, his eyes spotting the imminent finish line ahead. The fake snow now didn't really seem like a problem.

However, his skis ramped up a bump in the snow, and he caught some big air before landing roughly back on the ground. The unexpected jump nearly killed his ankle, causing Silver to wince in agony and swerve closer to the boundary lines.

_No, stay between the blue lines and the flags_, Silver reminded himself resolutely, _And finish this downhill_.

Crouching to get the utmost velocity, the white hedgehog sped through the finish line, receiving a record of a minute and fifty-three seconds flat, the best time of the event by far. The crowd roared at the new Olympic record as Silver eased himself away from everyone, tears encroaching upon his eyes and his old injury once again screaming at him.

"Good job, good job!" Luigi said after he raced to him, "Now let's finish the event, no?"

Silver gave him a pained smile and said, "Yeah. Let's finish this."

Time flew by the time-traveler until he was once again in some starting position, viewing the course he was about to traverse through. Only the course wasn't a steep, slippery slope, but it was a bumpy, snow-laden slalom in which controlling quick, short twists to weave through the poles was absolutely vital. And it was like the flags you had to pass through in the downhill, but these poles were far closer together. If he missed only one...

_Disqualification_, he thought with a shudder. Luigi had just finished his run and gained a spectacular time that would surely be difficult to conquer. Silver's ankle now was growing to a large, disproportional size compared to his other one, throbbing as a plea to quit the event. Gold seemed like a far cry to him now... No, he had come too far to give up; he had to finish what he started and win that medal.

The crowd alit with a shout of expectation as Silver dove off from the starting line and tackled the first pair of poles. He weaved through the pairs as flawlessly as he could. If he wasn't a couple of milliseconds ahead of Luigi in the upper segment of the course, then it would be near to impossible to lose time in the last legs. Speed was of most importance right now.

While getting bombarded by bumps and almost near misses on the poles, Silver crouched further down to acquire the perfect aerodynamic position. The crowd cheered suddenly, and from that, the white hedgehog knew he had dropped time in his first interval. He cheered silently in his mind, _Gold medal, here I come._

He twisted his body to zoom through another gate, his eyes intent on the next one. Out of anticipation, he cut his sharp turns shorter in the hopes of losing even more time. _Yes!_ he cried, obtaining the exact speed he desired in his mind. He was going to win...he was going to win!

The crowd was getting louder and louder, and in his excitement, Silver burrowed one ski into the ground, planning on passing through the next gate that was coming closer and closer.

But, in an unexpected turn of events, the ski slid out from under him, causing him to scrabble and attempt to swerve a wide turn through the gate. The slick snow wasn't cutting him slack anymore and had to come back to bite him.

Silver watched as he glided farther and farther from the gate and on ahead, missing it entirely, and his ankle became disjointed in a matter of seconds. His goal, his pursuit, his chances of winning-all out the window.

In his disappointment, he completely lost balance and crashed into the side of the course. The crowd had a let out an audible sigh of disappointment, and out of the corner of his eye, Silver spotted Luigi leaping up and down with joy with who looked like Daisy. The orange-wearing princess planted a kiss on the winner's cheek, and he blushed, smiling sheepishly.

A weak smile flickered across Silver's muzzle at the scene.

_Good for him._

"Silver!"

The white hedgehog altered his head to the direction of the noise and raised his eyebrows in surprise at the sight of none other than Blaze the Cat running to him. Even from afar, Silver could catch the worry in her golden amber eyes and her jerky, hurried movements to get to him faster. The lavender cat finally rested by his side, kneeling down to get a glimpse of his face.

"What happened? Are you okay? What's hurting you?" she curtly asked, firing each question in rapid succession.

The white hedgehog turned to meet her elegant, porcelain-like face. "I'm fine. Just a...just a snapped ankle that's all," he mumbled, feeling mortified at his loss. He didn't even finish the whole event.

Another glance at the smiling, happy Luigi caused an old objective to return to his mind. Silver hurriedly fished a gloved hand in his quills for the flower; and then, when he realized it wasn't there, his hands flashed blindly around him in search for it. No...it was gone. _Lesson learned; do not store important things in your quills_. Still, he had to _do _something.

Unable to stand, he quickly stuck a finger in the pearly white snow and drew a sad-looking heart. "Will you be my Valentine?" he blurted out. He kept his gaze aimed at the snow heart in embarrassment, but the snow abruptly burst into flames, revealing the fresh, green grass under it, still in the shape of a heart.

The white hedgehog gaped up at the fiery princess in awe as she smiled and simply said, "I'd love to."

With a shaky, bashful smile gradually increasing in size, Silver was pulled to his feet with the assistance of Blaze, his optimistic attitude slowly returning.

Maybe...just because bad things happened, it didn't mean he was a complete failure. Maybe...these bad things weren't always going to be around and good things would follow if he just kept smiling...

Blaze smiled in return at the naïve white hedgehog, and Silver leaned heavily against her as they approached Luigi, who shouted in glee at his new friend's arrival.

Maybe...he wasn't so unlucky after all.

**Yeah, so there's my Valentine's Day/Winter Olympics story a week late! I had a lot of fun researching the Olympics for this, and I even learned some Italian words for Luigi. Read, review, comment, criticize, or just say what you thought about the story. Thanks!**

**-JD**


End file.
